My Birthday Week Was Perfect

I turned 39 on the 10th. Eeek! Forty is creeping around the corner…

But I digress.

I took vacation the week of my birthday because we had big plans – a.k.a. a concert (of course). Before the headlining event, though, my best friend and her husband spoiled me for a couple of days.

Night one involved dolling up and going to Barnes & Noble and Spirit Halloween. We were going to take some pictures; however, a storm rolled in, so we headed back to the house and had a dinner that consisted of chicken fajita nachos and Mexican street corn pasta salad.

The second night we went to 2nd & Charles, then we had a mini photo shoot. We binged horror movies while having dinner.

Tiff and I spent the next afternoon in the pool. We both burned pretty badly, but it was a really good day with 90s music and ham sandwiches.

I headed home and slept for about 12 hours. I did nothing except laze around reading until I decided to hang out with my brother and sister-in-law for the evening.

And then, it was concert day! My brother and I drove up to Nashville to see Pierce the Veil and My Chemical Romance.

Back story: I saw My Chemical Romance in 2007 with Muse, touring for The Black Parade. My brother didn’t get to go. So as soon as I heard they were hitting the road for the 20th anniversary of The Black Parade, I knew we had to buy tickets.

Y’all…it was phenomenal! I mean, obviously they performed The Black Parade in its entirety, but their B set also kicked ass. Definitely worth the money, the drive, the heat, and standing in line for 45 minutes for a tour shirt.

I had another do nothing day before we loaded up for another show. This time, it was me, my brother, my sister-in-law, and their friend JD. We hung out with The Velcro Pygmies, and it was soooo much fun!

The last bit of celebrating happened on the 19th, when my brother and I went in for our heartagram tattoos.

Anyway, here are a bunch of pictures!

Mine is the watercolor; Rick’s is the embroidered patch

My Kentucky Vacation (June 2022)

I spent four days in Kentucky with my best friends this week. They moved up there just over a year ago, and it’s been really hard. I miss them like crazy!

It was nice to get away, if only for a short while. We went out and explored some areas of interest, including the historical community of West Point and a pet cemetery that was on the way to Shepherdsville. But our big adventure was a trip to Bernheim Forest.

If you don’t know about this forest, it is located in Clermont and covers more than 16,000 acres. It is a wildlife sanctuary, an arboretum, a campsite. There are miles and miles of trails to hike and things to see. What Bernheim Forest has become known for, though, is the giants.

Created by Thomas Dambo, the trio of giants are made from local recycled wood and are positioned throughout the area. It was an absolute delight discovering each one, though the map we were given at the entrance left something to be desired – it took us much longer to find the last two giants than it should have. Still, there was plenty to do along the way.

If you’re ever in the area, I would highly recommend a visit to Bernheim Forest. We had a lot of fun, and my friends’ kids loved the giants!